The Lord Recluse Strike Force is the fifth of five main Strike Forces on City of Villains. Lord Recluse is located in the The Tangle neighborhood of Grandville, within the main building of Spider City, inside the Patron room. Lord Recluse Strike Force is the premier Strike Force in City of Villains. The Heroes spawn at fixed levels (51 to 53 depending on foe) regardless of team composition, so the majority of your team will need to be level 50 in order to succeed.

In order to start the Lord Recluse Strike Force, the team leader must have the Usurper Badge, for defeating Lord Recluse in the final patron arc.

Missions

Agree to Form a Strike Force

Briefing

I have witnessed your journey through the Rogue Isles. You have clawed your way to the top, performing all manner of vile act to prove yourself stronger and more capable than the rest of my Destined Ones. You have even bested one of my trusted lieutenants, a feat few have done before. In the end I thought you a liability, having used Project DESTINY to see into the future and witness a possible death of the world - my rightful domain! - at your hands. But you have a depth of villainy and strength more powerful than even I had imagined. You discovered my contingency plans and sent me a very clear warning as to what would happen if I enacted my plans, and it is something I will not forget!

You know of my plans for Project DESTINY, to engineer my eventual victory by manipulating the timestreams of the future, eliminating unfavorable results until only my ultimate triumph remains! And you know the greatest threat to my goals is that epitome of foolish heroic virtue, Statesman! Statesman. Long has he been a thorn in my side, him and his legion of heroes who constantly attempt to thwart my operations at every turn. If you help me deal with the troublesome Statesman, I will asure you a place of honor in my future triumph!

Mission Acceptance

There is an Arachnos flyer ready to take you to your destination. As soon as you get there my operatives will start jamming transmissions so they don't let anyone know you have the security codes. We also have an advance force there to assist you in the assault.

Unnecessary Solicitation

The Arachnos flyer is waiting for you outside of Grandville. Head to the Longbow island base and get those security codes!

With the security codes in hand you should easily be able to overcome the worst of the Vindicators' base security!

You have done well, Strike Force Name!

Strategy

The map for this mission is similar to that of the Longbow base in Nerva. The team will zone in at a submarine just off the island housing the Longbow. Three waypoints will be visible on the map, marking the entrances to Tower 1, Tower 2, and the Laboratory, respectively.

Longbow Chasers are randomly placed over the map, which can be found fairly easily to anyone with travel powers.

Bombs are located in both the Towers, and the Laboratory. Setting the final bomb will spawn an ambush.

The Technician is located within one of the Towers, and will spawn an ambush containing a Longbow Ballista upon rescue. The Technician will not follow the team if stealth powers are turned on (especially group stealth powers), so remember to turn them off.

Crimson awaits with a retinue of Longbow Ballistas inside the Laboratory. Depending on the team, it is usually wise to take out all the Ballistas before engaging Crimson, as Ballistas are Elite Bosses while Crimson is a Hero.

Assault Malta Base

Briefing

Now that we have the security passcodes, we can continue with the next stage of our plan! Malta has proven to be an important asset to Arachnos. Their advanced weaponry and skilled personnel are excellent, and they are the perfect mercenaries to use when Arachnos wants to disassociate themselves from a delicate operation. However, they sometimes overstep their bounds, especially when it comes to acquiring knowledge aiding them in the defeat of super-powered beings. Not long ago, we found a Malta infiltration team in one of our Project FURY research labs, downloading information on the project. Some of their infiltration team must have escaped with the data, because some of our Arachnos spies have discovered Malta has developed a very interesting weapon based on Project FURY theoretical technology - the Orestes Rifle! This potent techno-magical weapon is designed to dispel mystical enchantments derived from the Well of Furies, such as those derived by Ms. Liberty's magical belt! This should prove very useful in the upcoming battle.

Malta has developed a robots and weapons manufacturing base in Warburg, a hotspot for armed conflict between heroes and villains. The base is headed up by a robotics engineering genius known as Slinger. While the main goal is to obtain the Orestes rifle, Slinger must be punished for his involvement in theft from Arachnos. Head to the Malta base, destroy their research databanks, steal the Orestes Rifle and take down Slinger!

Mission Acceptance

Malta has many secret training enclaves spread throughout the Rogue Isles. Because of the theft from Arachnos they chose to develop this weapon on the mainland. There's an Arachnos flyer waiting to take you there. Once you have acquired the Orestes Rifle you will need to hurry - once it is removed from the special Malta power feed, it will lose power quickly.

You have destroyed the Kronos Titan, showing Malta that the Heroes of Paragon City defend their turf.

Villain

You have destroyed the Kronos Titan, showing Malta that you are a force to be reckoned with

Debriefing

The Orestes Rifle! Use it well, Strike Force Name. It is a powerful weapon!

You say that you got hit by some sort of experimental weapon? We will need to fix that before you fight Statesman. Though I despise that foolish hero, I know he is powerful, and you will not survive against him while you are in this weakened state.

You are indeed a worthy ally of Arachnos!

Orestes Rifle Ranged, Special (Temporary Power)The Orestes Rifle was created as an experimental weapon by Malta as part of their ongoing agenda to control the heroes of the world. It is designed to nullify enchantments granted by the Well of the Furies. Once removed from the power feed in Malta it will only be effective for a period of 5 hours.

Expires in 5:00:00 of real time

Speak with Operative Grillo

Speak with Operative Grillo

Mission Briefing

The Orestes Rifle should prove most effective against Ms. Liberty, but the condition the Malta Temporal Disrupter left you with may jeopardize our eventual goal of defeating Statesman! I have spoken with Operative Grillo at Project DESTINY, and he has related some interesting information regarding your current state. Go speak with Operative Grillo, then follow his orders necessary to removing the temporal disruption!

Mission Acceptance

Operative Grillo said his people discovered something rather interesting in his investigations into Project DESTINY.

Ah, you must be Strike Force Name! Lord Recluse told me to expect you. You have a most interesting condition which I can explain. The Temporal Disrupter the Malta agents hit you with caused your team to be weakened considerably by causing you to be 'split in two' along the timestream. That is, part of you is here in the present, while part of you is in a possible future. The reason we know this is we recorded a temporal anomaly in one of the future timestreams and further investigation showed us your team in this future with a temporal 'trail' leading to the present! Fascinating, isn't it?

In any case, you're probably wanting to be rid of your condition. While it doesn't have an immediate effect upon you, the longer you go without fixing it, the more chance of it causing irrepairable damage to you. Lord Recluse gave his command to do whatever is necessary to remove the temporal disruption. We have the coordinates queued up in the Destiny Portal to the future timestream where your other half is. Going to this future and returning to our timeline will allow you to 'sync up' with your future selves and then with the present, thus removing the temporal disruption. There is a catch however. In this future, the Freedom Phalanx are putting up a strong resistance to Lord Recluse's plans. As part of Project DESTINY, we need to remove this future possibility. Enter into the Destiny Portal and eliminate the Freedom Phalanx resistance from this future reality!

Defeat future Freedom Phalanx

Mission Objective(s)

+++ Missing Information +++

Defeat future Freedom Phalanx

+++ Missing Information +++

Editor's Note:

All enemy groups will be hostile to each other, including the Villains.

Assault Vindicators Base

Mission Briefing

Now that you have recovered from the temporal disruption, it is time now to obtain the bait for the cursed Statesman! You have the Orestes Rifle and the security codes to the Vindicators' base. Go now and kidnap Ms. Liberty!

Mission Acceptance

Ms. Liberty is the leader of the Vindicators and will not be taken down easily, especially in the defense of her base. Proper use of the Orestes Rifle should suppress the more powerful of the enchantments granted by the Well of Furies!

Unnecessary Solicitation

It is only a matter of time before the Vindicators discover their base is vulnerable. Assault the base at once!

We all know what's going down. One of our Longbow island bases was attacked by a gang of viscious criminals from the Rogue Isles, and they got hold of our security codes!

By the look of it, they've already breached the base. What's more, one of our Warburg warzone operatives reported they might be after Ms. Liberty with some sort of special weapon!

Valkyrie:

Do not worry, Swan. The Vindicators will not let these villains get to Ms. Liberty!''

Ms. Liberty:

Those Rogue Isles villains are fools to break into the Vindicators stronghold! This is where the power of my Liberty Belt is the strongest!

For Liberty!

Debriefing

Excellent! Now that we have Ms. Liberty, we can force the final confrontation with Statesman!

Defeat Statesman and Freedom Phalanx

Mission Briefing

The final confrontation with Statesman is at hand! I have sent word to my arch-enemy in Paragon City, setting the terms for the conflict. He is to clear Atlas Park so only true heroes and villains may clash! He will show up with some Longbow agents to cordon off the area so citizens would not get hurt. I also allowed the Freedom Phalanx to aid him - it will make his eventual defeat all the more satisfying! Go now and defeat the greatest of heroes, the mighty Statesman and his precious Freedom Phalanx!

Mission Acceptance

This will be a great triumph! To have Statesman publicly defeated will be a glorious victory!

The mighty Statesman and his precious Freedom Phalanx are defeated! It was a great and glorious battle - you have proven yourself to be a true Archvillain! Let it be known that Lord Recluse does not forget services rendered to him. My scientists have finished analyzing the 'H-Boosters' you acquired in the future timeline. They are temporary power boosters created from the being known as the Hamidon! Arachnos science managed to stabilize the temporary synthetic compound, making them permanent. These I give to you for carrying out my task - use them well!

Master of Lord Recluse's Strike Force

If you successfully complete the Lord Recluse Strike Force with challenge settings of zero defeats (no one on the team can be defeated throughout the entire strike force) and no Temporary Powers (other than the Orestes Rifle power a player obtains), you will receive the following achievement badge.

Souvenir

Statesman's Helmet

Lord Recluse recruited your Strike Force to publicly defeat the greatest of heroes, the mighty Statesman! His plan involved kidnapping Ms. Liberty to force a controlled confrontation with Statesman. In order to get Ms. Liberty, Lord Recluse had a plan to storm the Vindicator's base, which involved getting hold of their security codes to shut down their base defenses. This involved assaulting a Longbow island base, planting explosives destroying their transports, and kidnapping a Longbow technician to access the necessary codes for you. Once this was done, you returned to Lord Recluse.

The next step was acquiring a weapon to use against Ms. Liberty. Lord Recluse discovered that Malta had developed a weapon known as the Orestes Rifle based on information they stole from Project FURY. The Orestes Rifle was capable of suppressing magical energies derived from the Well of the Furies, such as those Ms. Liberty calls upon from her Liberty Belt. You broke into a Malta weapons lab and stole the Orestes Rifle, but were hit by a Temporal Disrupter during the assault causing you to be drastically weakened.

Lord Recluse sent you to speak with Operative Grillo, who told you the temporal disruption you were experiencing was because you were essentially 'split in two', with half of you in the present and half in a future timeline. Grillo tracked the temporal anomaly to the future, and allowed you to travel to this future through the Destiny Portal as long as you won this future for Lord Recluse by defeating the future Freedom Phalanx. You faced down Citadel, Sister Psyche, the Back Alley Brawler and Manticore in this future reality, bringing Lord Recluse's triumph closer to becoming a reality.

Returning to the present, you carried out your plan to kidnap Ms. Liberty. Assaulting the Vindicators Justice Fortress, you fought Swan and Mynx before facing down Ms. Liberty herself.

Lord Recluse set the terms of the battle. You set out to Atlas Park to face Numina, Synapse, Positron and the mighty Statesman himself! Returning to Recluse, he gifted you with stabilized synthetic Hamidon boosters, taken from the future Freedom Phalanx you fought earlier on the other side of the Destiny Portal.